Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Minister blame Blogs

On today's newpaper TheStar, a Minister hit out at weblogs and bloggers, blaming bloggers for spreading inaccurate information and accusing bloggers of exaggeration on facts, matching blogs to spreading gossips from mouth to mouth.

It seems that this particular minister is from old school politicians, no wonder they can't or most likely would not understand the needs of new generation of voters. We are no longer the generation of "Yes, Minister" (1980's British Sitcom), we are the new generations of voters and political observers. And we felt that there is a need for us to speak our mind. I am apolitical and I am not easily swayed either. We are not "atas pagar" but merely people who don't bother about politic unless it affect our lives.

The Malaysian political scenario now is getting out of hand, everybody is fingerpointing, blaming others for their own weaknesses and misdeeds. Now this Mr Minister is accusing bloggers of spreading lies and inaccurate reports. Mr Minister, this is the era of information technology, we cannot just rely on what was reported by the newspapers and tvs - mostly controlled by political proxies. And most important we are not stupid. Blog is not like gossips (spreading by mouth) but is in writing (black and white) and it is not a "surat layang" - the author can be easily identified. As Minister they have the privilege of press coverage but for the rakyat, we also need a medium to express our mind too.

If this Mr Minister blames bloggers for inaccuracy, then that mean the blogs run by other Ministers - his peers, are also inaccurate and everybody should not believe what the other Ministers wrote in their blogs. It seems that this Minister had his fact wrong and he is making a malicious slander on Bloggers.

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